The run from 50 degrees South around Cape Horn and back to the starting latitude is one of the most spectacular tests of offshore sailing. It was one of the benchmarks against which the fastest Clippers were raced and remains one of the greatest sailing rites of passage. Join us as we commission SOL’s new Clipper and race “wrong-way” around the Horn!
SOL’s Clipper is modeled after the three masted “extreme clippers” built in the US, with an overall length of two hundred forty feet. These ships owned the majority of offshore sailing records for more than one hundred thirty years, only being displaced by modern purpose-designed sporting boats in the last two decades.
The polar we’re using should be pretty close, and gives virtual clipper sailors a shot at some of the old records. Performance originally fell off as the wind increased further, but this feature was eliminated to avoid confusion. In a real clipper, you didn’t expect to make way to windward in strong gale to storm conditions, and reaching was to be avoided at all costs.
76trombones
I would have liked to see the performance loss in the polars. Just heading for the strongest wind shouldn’t pay off since the real ships had to reef the sails and try to head for calmer weather.
Strait of Magellan passsage during practice for 50/50 on SOL with Clipper polar
enter on east side 9:15am ish wed b.c. time
exit west, north of Desolacion Island 21:45ish friday b.c. time